Issue 350 January 28, 2002
Group Says CT's Roads Among Nation's Worst

Connecticut roads are among the worst in the nation, according to a report released by The Road Information Project (TRIP) in December. The study says that over half the state’s roads are in mediocre or poor condition.  Only California, Massachusetts and Missouri have a higher portion of roads in mediocre or poor condition, according to TRIP.

TRIP — a Washington-based lobby group whose members are primarily companies in the heavy construction and road materials industries — routinely releases information on road system deficiencies, and calls for more highway spending.  But its analysis of Connecticut is significant because its findings fly in the face of the widely held perception that Connecticut merits high marks for the sustained road and bridge maintenance effort it has undertaken since the collapse of the Mianus River Bridge in 1983. According to the Hartford Courant, state officials were surprised by the report. It should be taken “with a grain of salt,” DOT spokesman John Wallace told the Stamford Advocate.

The Tri-State Campaign has attempted to obtain the report — so far unsuccessfully.  According to newspapers, it finds that 37% of CT roads are in mediocre condition and 17% are in poor condition.

It’s possible that the gap between the common wisdom in Connecticut and the research findings can be found on local roads.  While the state has focused its maintenance efforts on interstates and state highways, state resources devoted to other roads in Connecticut have been declining for decades.  The Connecticut Conference of Municipalities says that inflation-adjusted levels of Town Aid for Roads — the state’s main local aid transportation program — have been dropping since the 1960s.  Research commissioned by the Conference found that fixing deficient local roads and bridges around the state would cost well over $300 million.

In its 2001 “green paper,” the CT Transportation Choices Coalition called on the state to significantly boost Town Aid. The paper pointed to resources for controversial projects like widening US Routes 6 and 7, I-84 and a variety of state routes as money that would be better spent on local road repair.

According news reports, TRIP says that Connecticut and other New England states are seeing significant growth in truck traffic, which contributes to more rapid deterioration of roads. 


MTR #350 portable document format (PDF) file version
(requires Adobe Acrobat).

Related Articles and Links

TRIP's website

2001 CT Green Paper

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